In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, ICE is holding migrants in its prison system for longer periods. Last month, migrants spent almost two months longer in ICE prisons than one year earlier. By comparing ICE data on average length of stay, I’m able to consider an important feature of immigration imprisonment across multiple years. Using Freedom of Information Act requests, I’ve previously learned that in June 2018 migrants spent, on average, 36.0 days inside ICE prisons. In June 2019, they spent roughly the same amount of time there: 37.8 days. But in June 2020, the average length of [...]
Dip in families detained by ICE
The Trump administration’s anti-migrant policies are well known and multifaceted. Interestingly, the government’s heavy-handed approach is showing up in fewer detained families at ICE’s “family residential centers.” Data I obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests show that there were substantially fewer children held alongside their parents in September 2019 than at that point one or two years earlier. From October 2016 to September 2019 (ending on September 14, 2019), the number of people held in ICE’s family immigration prisons peaked in May 2018 when, on an average day, the [...]
Talking immigration prisons with poet Bobby LaFebre
Last week, Colorado Poet Laureate Bobby LaFebre and I shared a virtual stage to talk about immigration prisons in the United States. A wordsmith with a sharp sense of urban politics, LaFebre's art is grounded in North Denver, a neighborhood that has beat with the energy of migrant populations for generations. In recent years, North Denver has also been the city's gentrification epicenter. Sponsored by The Word: A Storytelling Sanctuary, a non-profit committed to diversifying the publishing industry, our conversation focused on my book, Migrating to Prison: America's Obsession with Locking [...]
C-SPAN Book TV features “Migrating to Prison”
My in-person book tour came to a halt with Covid-19, but I'm pleased to share an appearance on BookTV, the C-SPAN program. This talk took place at BookBar in Denver, an independent bookstore where the selection of books is as good as the wine offerings. https://www.c-span.org/video/?466860-1/migrating-prison In the exceptional circumstances in which we now find ourselves, I hope you will consider supporting independent bookstores like BookBar by buying directly from them. [...]
Supreme Court decision highlights need for “New Way Forward” legislation
By Alisa Wellek and Nancy Morawetz In a cruel ruling last month in Barton v. Barr, the Supreme Court upheld a Trump administration position that will deny many green card holders facing deportation the possibility of asking for relief. This decision will put more people at risk at a time when immigration detention and deportation have exacerbated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and there is a national movement demanding decarceration and a halt to deportations. As the pandemic rages, the Barton decision received scant attention yet it has major implications for thousands of our [...]
A conversation with Alina Das & Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia
On Monday, May 4, I'll join two outstanding scholars and advocates, Alina Das and Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, to talk about immigration policing in the United States. Join us! Professors Das and Wadhia both recently published books about various aspects of immigration law and policy. In No Justice in the Shadows: How America Criminalizes Immigrants, Das describes the demonizing bent of U.S. immigration law and law enforcement. In Banned: Immigration Enforcement in the Time of Trump, Wadhia focuses on the important role of discretion in carrying out U.S. immigration law. Both represent the most [...]
Ongoing Litigation over Migrants’ Release Amid COVID-19
By Kim Langona On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Two days later, President Trump declared a national emergency over the COVID-19 outbreak. To date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 53,922 deaths and more than 957,000 cases in the United States alone. Immigration officials are already empowered to let people shelter in private residences as public health officials advise. According to section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Department of Homeland Security has the power [...]
Close Immigration Prisons Now
Yesterday, I published an op-ed in The New York Times arguing for the urgent need to shut down immigration prisons in the United States. I wrote this with my brother Carlos Moctezuma García, a partner at García & García Attorneys at Law, PLLC. You can read the opinion piece, Close Immigration Prisons Now, on the Times' website. [...]